Vietnam - Building ancient houses in modern time

VietNamNet Bridge – Talented workers of the Dai Vi carpentry village, in Hanoi’s neighboring province of Ha Bac, are traveling everywhere to build ancient-styled wood houses.

Being located not very long from the Tien Son Industrial Zone, the Dai Vi village has not been affected by urbanization much. The village still has pathways and many old houses with mossy tile roofs and newly-build traditional-styled houses.

Vietnamese ancient-styled house introduced in Malaysia

When visiting senior woodworker Nguyen The Quang, one will be impressed by his five-room wood house, which is built in ancient style.

The house has the main door made of ironwood, carved with the four trees representing the four seasons (pine, mums, bamboo and apricot). The house is spacious, being appropriate with four big pillars. Beams are arranged balanced and also carved with ancient patterns.

“I’ve built traditional-styled houses for others for 30 years and there is no reason why I cannot build a proper house for myself. Last year I decided to build this house to commemorate a life of building ancient-styled house and to leave it as a gift to my descendants,” says Mr. Quang.

Quang is one of the best woodworkers of Dai Vi village, though he became a carpenter very late. After graduating a construction high school in Ha Bac province, he worked at the Ha Bac Transport Department for several years. However, each time Quang returned home, he was charmed by the sound of shaper, saw, chisel and the scent of timber; and they roused up his love for the traditional trade of his village. Quang quit his job at the transport department to learn carpentry. He has quickly become an outstanding carpenter thanks to his native talent.

Mr. Quang says that while many old houses of hundreds of years old in Vietnam have been destroyed under the impacts of urbanization, traditional-styled houses keep being built everywhere.

In the last ten years, the time of rapid urbanization in Vietnam, many people in the rural and urban regions have still come to Dai Vi village to seek Mr. Quang to ask him build ancient-styled houses for them.

Many people say that they like ancient-styled houses because these houses give them the peaceful feeling. This kind of house is cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Whenever they are free, they like looking on patterns carved on pillars and beams. Some people build ancient-styled houses as family temples.

Mr. Quang says that his most memorable memories in his life, is the time he built a Vietnamese traditional-styled house in Malaysia.

In 2004, a cultural festival of Southeast Asian countries was held in Malaysia, where participating countries introduced their traditional culture. Vietnam decided to build a Vietnamese traditional house there to introduce to regional friends. Mr. Quang was hired to build that house.

The senior carpenter chose the best woodworks in his village to make this wood-made house in Vietnam. He and ten most talented woodworkers then went to Malaysia to set up the house in ten days. The work was highly appreciated by other countries.

Maintaining traditional trade

Mr. Do Dang Tuyen is among the oldest carpenters in Dai Vi village. He was trained by his father to become a carpenter at the age of 15. Now, Mr. Tuyen is over 80 so he cannot take his saw, chisel and planer everywhere to build old-styled houses, but he can still imparts to his descendants his lifetime experience.

“I have four sons and two of them are woodworkers. This trade is taught directly, no books--so it will lose in oblivion if we do not have predecessors,” Mr. Tuyen says.

Mr. Tuyen currently lives with his third son, Mr. Do Dang Lam. Lam is less than 40 but he has been a carpenter for nearly 30 years. As a senior woodworker, Lam is very busy with many orders to build old-styled houses throughout Vietnam.

Mr. Tuyen took the author of this article to his oldest son’s house (Mr. Do Dang Van) and showed the writer the ironwood-made doors of the house and said: “Some people said that building ancient-styled houses is a fashion but I don’t think so. Let’s see the wood and sophisticated patterns on these doors. Nobody is foolish to throw away such things.”

It is painstaking to build a traditional-styled house. First of all, carpenters have to choose straight and well-proportioned to make pillars. These pillars are sophisticatedly carved with traditional patterns like the four seasons (pine, mums, bamboo, and apricot) or crane, mynah, butterfly, etc. Doors, beams and other parts of the house are also carved. Assembling these parts into a complete house is also a hard job.

Dai Vi village currently has around ten groups of carpenters, with 8-15 people/group. Each group is led by a senior carpenter.

Mr. Nguyen Van Lung, 30, from the northern province of Thai Nguyen, has learned carpentry from Mr. Nguyen Cong Dung, a talented woodworker in Dai Vi village for four years. Lung says that he learnt carpentry from his father when he was a small boy but he still has to go to Dai Vi to learn how to build ancient houses.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hung, a senior carpenter of Dai Vi village, says that it depends on the talent of each learner but each learner needs at least five years to become a traditional-styled house builder.

Talented carpenters of Dai Vi village not only build wood houses, but they also restore old temples and tombs. This job is similar to build old houses but it requires carpenters who have the best skills.

Mr. Tuyen says that he has participated in restoring many pagodas in many regions in Vietnam, including some houses inside the Hue ancient citadel and the tombs of Kings Gia Long and Tu Duc.

Mr. Nguyen The Quang has been invited to restore many temples and relics, such as Do Temple, where worships Kings of the Ly Dynasty in Bac Ninh province, or Lung Giang and Lang Choi pagodas, also in Bac Ninh.

Mr. Quang says that he always allowed his son, Nguyen The Huy, over 30, to participate in restoring relics as a way to improve his skills. Huy is now one of the most outstanding carpenters of the next generation in Dai Vi village.

Tien Phong

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